In the next installment of Inside The Magazine, I take a look at the June ’92 edition of Inside Wrestling. Undertaker turning on Jake Roberts and the impact of that is heavily discussed. Harley Race forming his own stable of men similar to the Dangerous Alliance, IRS and Ted DiBiase winning the tag titles, Sting shares his thoughts on his WCW World Championship victory. Plus, who will be the first megastar in the post-Hogan era? Marcus Alexander Bagwell sits down for an interview in Hotseat. Tony Atlas is sick of WWF castoffs and lastly there is a one on one interview between the Patriot and the Dark Patriot.
SINCERELY YOURS
Tim from CT thinks that Jake Roberts may simply hate everyone on the planet and that his feud with Randy Savage is just because it’s Randy’s turn for Roberts attacks. Robin from Maryland believes that Roberts isn’t a madman or genius, but rather that Paul E. Dangerously is his nickname “psycho yippie” proves that point. She hopes that Dangerously doesn’t get more control of WCW because than an inmate really will run the show. Jose from Miami thinks that all the WWF wrestlers should be afraid if Curt Hennig were to return to action because of his technical skill. Perhaps the only wrestler that could challenge Hennig would be Bret Hart.
Mary and Jack from West Virginia are fed up with referees in both WCW and WWF with their inability to ignore managers or valets on the floor. It’s making them want to stop watching wrestling after forty years of being fans. Joan from Georgia is super excited about Brian Pillman wrestling Jushin Liger at Superbrawl II that she ordered the pay per view as soon as that match as announced. Gary from Texas thinks The Patriot is a coward for allowing the Dark Patriot to throw ink in his face and not suffer any kind of revenge. Gary believes that Patriot hides behind the American flag and colors to get the fans to rally behind him and hide from his dark side nemesis. Nancy from Worcester thinks that Bret Hart is the only real champion even after losing to the Mountie when he wasn’t feeling very well. She believes that Bret should get a shot at WWF World Champion Ric Flair.
Derrick from Michigan is fed up with Sting and the Steiner Brothers for talking a lot of smack but yet haven’t been champions in four to seven months. He suggests the editors don’t write articles about guys who don’t have championships. Rita from Chicago thinks the attitudes the Young Pistols have shown recently isn’t really the teams personality and thinks they look uncomfortable. She hopes they walkup before the Steiner Brothers come along and destroy them quickly. Justin thinks the Survivor Series format is played out and that the event should be similar to WCW’s Lethal Lottery since it would add excitement to the show.
SAKS’ NOTEBOOK: written by: Stu Saks
Stu believes the recent acquisition of Jesse Ventura for WCW programming is a huge step in the right direction as it will make fans want to check the product out. Ventura is familiar from his WWF work and add in the recent influx of great talents, WCW is on the right road to success.
NAMES MAKIN’ NAMES: written by: Bill Apter
Apter breaks down the results for Superbrawl II, which featured Sting winning the WCW World Championship and Brian Pillmna winning the WCW Lightweight Championship. Koko B. Ware recently won the USWA Heavyweight Championship from Kamala. Had Kamala won, he would have been allowed to eat Koko’s bird, Frankie. Koko also recently pinned IWCCW Champion Tony Atlas in a non-title match. Jim Neidhart and Jimmy Snuka have departed from the WWF. Bart Sawyer has returned to the Pacific Northwest. Junkyard Dog showed up in USWA to team with Jerry Lawler and Jeff Jarrett to take on the Moondogs and Big Black Dog. Scott Putski has a new partner in Gary Young and they recently won a tag match over Global Tag Team Champions John Tatum and Rod Price. Tatanka and Rick Martel are likely going to be involved in a feud. Lastly, Ben Jordan pinned Barry Horowitz to win the GWF Lightweight Championship when Barry couldn’t pin Jordan twice in ten minutes. He only managed to pin him once.
ON THE ROAD: written by: Chris Bernucca
Chris recently went to a WWF taping in Texas at the Civic Center. He was upset that at the taping the Undertaker saved Miss Elizabeth from an attack by Jake Roberts. He believes that the Undertaker fits the part of a rule breaker far better and fits the description wearing all black. He references several sports franchises that had bad attitudes but still accomplished championships. He hoped that the Undertaker would have been a bad guy forever.
BEHIND THE DRESSING ROOM DOOR: written by: David Rosenbaum
Sting recently winning the WCW World Championship at Superbrawl allows him to restore the prestige the championship had in the past but might have been damaged following the recent actions of Ric Flair and Lex Luger during their title reigns. Sting is confident that his reign will be lengthy because he prevailed to the top after several setbacks. David agrees with the decision Jack Tunney made that the Natural Disasters had gotten too many tag title matches and thus wouldn’t get a shot on February 7th in Denver. He understands because it only takes one match to lose the belt. Perhaps Hogan got it right to have one or two title defenses in a week as a title match shouldn’t be a daily occurrence.
THE INSIDER: written by: Eddie Ellner
Eddie is disappointed that the duo of Jake Roberts and the Undertaker will not remain together and be a vile duo. He was also bummed out when Roberts hesitated to smash Elizabeth’s brains in with a steel chair and Undertaker made the save. He notes that you can’t trust the living dead. He takes a shot at Kerry Von Erich for not being a doctor since he got arrested for forging a pill prescription. Eddie thinks that Kerry should invest his money in an independent company and build wrestlers for the future. He’s sure that Kerry would sleep better not being a big fish anymore. Eddie finds Piper being ranked as the fourth best wrestler to be kind of foolish since it was Bret Hart’s flu that allowed Piper to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship to begin with. Piper is surely enjoying his new found success at this stage in his career.
ON ASSIGNMENT: written by: Liz Hunter
The focus of the article is on Elizabeth and her success in the wrestling world leading Randy Savage to the WWF World Championship. She talked to Rick Rude about his interaction with Cheryl Roberts and how that probably ruined the sport for Elizabeth. The interaction between Rude and Cheryl may have been a trigger that has led to the madman Roberts has become. Now, Elizabeth has to deal with Ric Flair saying he has pictures of Elizabeth after a love affair between the two. Rude loves to take credit for ruining the sport for Elizabeth starting back in ’88.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Blackjack Mulligan: Has been wrestling in Florida’s International Wrestling Federation where he has sights on being the heavyweight champion soon.
Honkytonk Man: He’s been busy for personal appearances and hasn’t had a lot of time to wrestle. However, he’s going to be back in a major promotion and promises to win the heavyweight champion on his first try.
Motor City Madman: He’s retired now and is currently a pool hustler, but suggests he’ll be back in the ring.
Marty Jannetty: He left the WWF in February and competed in Japan recently failing to win a championship. Jannetty promised to be back in the WWF to get revenge on former friend Shawn Michaels.
NEWS FROM THE WRESTLING CAPITALS
Bret Hart vs. Col. Mustafa took place in Ottawa, Ontario. Hart got the pin even with the Mountie trying to get involved.
Jake Roberts vs. Randy Savage inside a steel cage took place at Philadelphia, PA. Savage almost lost but dragged Roberts into the cage and was victorious by pin fall.
Steve Armstrong vs. PN News took place in Baltimore, MD. Tracy Smothers helped Armstrong get the win by holding PN’s leg down on the pin attempt.
Barry Windham vs. Larry Zbyszko took place in Atlanta, GA. It was a Texas Death Match but it ended by disqualification when the Dangerous Alliance got involved. El Gigante was the special referee for the match, too.
Nikolai Volkoff vs. Tony Atlas took place in Hamburg, PA. Atlas was in danger of losing his championship but decided to save the gold by hitting Volkoff with brass knuckles leading to a disqualification.
Larry Cameron vs. Charlie Norris took place in Minneapolis, MN. The match ended in a double count-out and Norris retained his heavyweight championship as a result.
MATT BROCK’S PLAIN SPEAKING
He attended the Denver WWF house show where the Legion of Doom lost the WWF Tag Team Championships to Ted DiBiase and IRS. The crowd was shocked by the title change that saw Sensational Sherri get involved and cost them the titles. Matt was more shocked when he went back to his hotel to find out that Buzz Sawyer had died. Brock also sat down for a match between Tony Atlas and Koko B. Ware, which he didn’t find to be enjoyable whatsoever as the whole show was mostly a stinker. He was disappointed in Luger’s title reign as Luger can do much better. He’s confident that Luger will get another shot as champion.
A HALF-TON OF HOLY HELL: HARLEY RACE FORMS HIS OWN DANGEROUS ALLIANCE: written by: Chris Bernucca
Harley Race had to deal with defeat as a manager as his client Lex Luger lost the WCW World Championship to Sting at Superbrawl II. Now, with Luger gone Race has assembled a group of men to reclaim gold and it’s led by Vader, a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion on three occasions. Race also offered a contract to Vinnie Vegas to offer his services. Race sees a lot of Luger in Vegas with his walk and the way he carries himself. They joined Mr. Hughes to bring the trio to over 1,000 pounds of muscle for Race to use. He isn’t going to stop until the heavyweight championship is back and he’s sure that Vader will be the guy to get the job done.
IRS & MILLION DOLLAR MAN: BENEATH THE FLASH & CASH – THE BEST TEAM IN WRESTLING? written by: Eddie Ellner
They recently won the titles on February 7th with help from Sensational Sherri, Typhoon and referee Dave Hebner failing at his job. Both men had promising starts to their careers focusing on wrestling and not gimmicks or robes, but that’s not the case now. They shouldn’t be taken lightly as they are both talented wrestlers and as a duo they are dangerous. The idea of a millionaire teaming with an overzealous tax collector seems to be a bit odd. However, will they be ale to add their names to the list of early promise or fall victim to money and fame?
STING GUNS DOWN LUGER – WINS SECOND WCW WORLD TITLE! HIS GREATEST MATCH – IN HIS OWN OWRDS! written by: Sting
He never thought anything would match how it felt when he won the WCW World Championship in July 1990 from Ric Flair, but the second time has been better. He came back from defeat from Flair and losing the WCW United States Championship due to Luge re-injuring his knee. Sting battled all the way leading into Superbrawl while Luger sat out before the match took place. Sting believes that this reign will be a lot longer than his previous reign and will come through for the fans.
THE WWF’S FIRST POST-HOGAN MEGASTAR: WHO WILL IT BE? written by: Andy Rodriguez
Sid Justice: He’s big, has charisma and is his own man, which fans seem to respect. Plus, Hogan was wrong about Justice betraying him at the Royal Rumble.
The Undertaker: He’s been one of the most popular wrestlers in recent memory. He has been invincible and fans are fascinated by Taker’s obsession with death.
Ric Flair: Is he too old? He’s been doubted before and he’ll be doubted again. Flair could possibly rule the WWF in the 90s similar to what he did in the NWA during the 80s.
Randy Savage: Who would be the real megastar, Savage or his wife? Since, Savage is more popular when his wife is around than when she isn’t.
Bret Hart: Hart had grabbed the imagination of fans as he went for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, but after losing to Mountie, he changed his in-ring style to a point where he was far more aggressive and that turned fans away, apparently.
Roddy Piper: Piper doesn’t back down from a fight, but the temptation of Hollywood could prevent Piper from breaking into megastar land. It’s possible that the next huge star hasn’t even started in the business yet, or is just in another promotion, perhaps?
HOTSEAT: MARCUS ALEXANDER BAGWELL
Bagwell arrived in WCW and was lucky enough to be trained by Sting, Dustin Rhodes and Mike Graham. Now, he’s at the top of the list of the Dangerous Alliance to take him out. Bagwell can’t say that everything he does doesn’t disappoint the fans. He’s doing things to advance his career and do what he thinks will be best for him. He will not be intimidated by anyone whether that is the Dangerous Alliance or anyone else. His victory with Brian Pillman at a recent Clash of the Champions was a big moment for his career. Bagwell doesn’t have revenge on his mind after a recent attack by the Dangerous Alliance but is optimistic. He takes every loss as a learning experience. He’s been in talks with Tom Zenk to be tag partners in the near future. Bagwell is told that Cactus Jack has requested some matches with him. Bagwell believes that Paul E. Dangerously probably has something to do with that, but will sign the contract if he gets one.
CHAMPION TONY ATLAS’ WARNING TO IWCCW: ‘STOP SENDING ME YOUR WWF CASTOFFS!” written by: Bob Smith
Tony Atlas was outraged when told he’d be fighting Nikolai Volkoff in Hamburg to defend his IWCCW Heavyweight Championship. He takes it as a slap in the face when someone like Volkoff gets a title shot at him. Volkoff brought brass knuckles into the match, but Atlas got disqualified when he had them over his hand. He lost to Koko B. Ware but he is frustrated with having to fight ex-WWF wrestlers. However, Atlas is scheduled to meet Koko and Volkoff again in the near future. Which, doesn’t sit well with Atlas.
ONE ON ONE: DARK PATRIOT VS. THE PATRIOT
They have had a heated rivalry in Global, which has seen Dark Patriot win GWF North American Championship with help from Bruce Pritchard. Dark Patriot is the evil side of the Patriot and has terrorized Patriot for several months. Patriot wants to know how Dark Patriot sleeps at night being a cheater, and Dark sleeps rather well at night. Dark is confident that he will be champion for a long time with Bruce Prichard. Patriot is glad that Eddie Gilbert is getting his hands on Dark Patriot. Dark believes that Patriot and Gilbert are in cahoots, which doesn’t seem to be the case according to Patriot. Dark Patriot reminds Patriot that he is the dark side of America, the evil within Patriot. That is why he needs to fight him to combat his demons. Patriot believes he will be champion once he is given the opportunity and without Bruce Prichard in the mix.
What are your thoughts on this magazine and what was going on in the wrestling world during this time?
Thanks for reading.